‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 95: Fighting continues to expand into Lebanon as Israel assassinates senior Hezbollah commander

Casualties

• 23,210+ killed* and at least 59,167 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
• 384 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem
• Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147.
• 519 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 2,193 injured.**

*This figure was confirmed by Gaza’s Ministry of Health on January 9. Some rights groups put the death toll number closer to 30,000 when accounting for those presumed dead.

**This figure is released by the Israeli military. 

Key Developments

• Israel says it is planning to fight for the rest of 2024 in Gaza Strip as troops retreat from some areas in north Gaza.
• Israel kills Wisam al-Taweel, senior Hezbollah commander in Al-Radwan elite force, in southern Lebanon. 
• Hezbollah hits Kiryat Shmona, a settlement built on the depopulated Palestinian village Al-Khalisa in northern Israel, with anti-tank missiles before Netanyahu’s visit.
• King Abdullah of Jordan warns that Israel created a generation of orphans in the Gaza Strip.
• The PA’s Ministry of Education reports that since October 7, Israeli forces killed 4,257 students in Gaza and 39 in the West Bank, injuring 8,059 pupils.
• Doctors Without Borders says an Israeli artillery shell hit a shelter housing MSF employees and their families in Khan Younis, injuring a child and several others.
• B’Tselem rights group says Israel’s policy is to deny Palestinians food, leaving them to rely on outside aid.
• Hamas fires barrage of rockets on Tel Aviv, while Al-Mujahideen Brigades publishes video showing an attack on Israeli forces barricaded inside a building in Gaza. Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades release video message in English and Hebrew of one of Israeli captives in Gaza.
• Israeli military spokesperson says forces found a weapon production site in Gaza used to manufacture long-range missiles which could hit northern Israel.
• Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, says that “the time has come [for Muslim states] to support the resistance with weapons.”
• Israeli forces kill three Palestinian resistance fighters in Tulkarem, and blow up two homes in Jerusalem.

Israel kills senior Hezbollah commander as Gaza war spills into Lebanon

Israel is planning to fight for the rest of 2024 in the Gaza Strip, according to the military spokesperson, as war has now expanded into the northern front with Lebanon following the assassination of a senior Hezbollah commander, Wisam al-Taweel, on Monday.

Al-Taweel is a unit leader in Hezbollah’s elite force, Al-Radwan, who has fought in every major battle against Israel since 1989. He took part in the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers in 2006 near the fence north of occupied Palestine, an event that started a full-blown Israeli war against Lebanon.

He is the most senior Hezbollah commander to be killed by Israel since October 8, when the Lebanese resistance movement weighed in on the fighting as Israel carpet-bombed the Gaza Strip.

Al-Taweel is the brother of Fadi Hassan Al-Taweel, a leader in Hezbollah who was also killed in 1987, and he is also the uncle of Hussien Hani Al-Taweel and Mohammed Hani Al-Taweel who were killed in southern Lebanon and Syria, respectively.

Over the weekend, Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets on Meron airbase, Israel’s surveillance and air control headquarters, located on Mount Jarmaq in the Galilee.

Hezbollah released a video showing rockets destroying surveillance domes and landing inside Meron airbase. It is unclear the full extent of the damage caused by the attack as Israel is yet to publish details. This came as retaliation for Israel’s killing of Hamas deputy leader Saleh Al-Aruri in Beirut last week.

At least 150 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in battles in southern Lebanon since October, while Israel says 13 Israelis have been killed. Thousands of Israelis have abandoned their homes close to the fence to Lebanon and moved to hotels and other towns.

On Monday, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a visit to Kiryat Shmona, a nearly deserted settlement near the fence with Lebanon in northern Israel.

“Hezbollah made a big mistake with us in 2006 and it is making one now. It thought that we were like a spiderweb,” he told army soldiers stationed in the north.

Early on Monday, Hezbollah hit Kiryat Shmona, a settlement built on the depopulated Palestinian village Al-Khalisa, with anti-tank missiles before Netanyahu’s arrival.

“We will do everything to restore security to the north and allow your families, because many of you are from here, to return home in safety and to know that we are not to be trifled with,” Netanyahu pledged.

On Tuesday morning, Hezbollah launched a kamikaze drone attack on the northern command of the Israeli force in the town of Safed, Israel’s army radio reported, in response of killing al-Taweel.

Later on Tuesday, an Israeli drone strike on a vehicle killed three Hezbollah fighters near the town of Al-Ghandouriyah.

King Abdullah of Jordan: “Israel created a generation of orphans in Gaza”

In the past 24 hours, Israel killed 126 Palestinian martyrs and injured 241 more in 12 massacres across Gaza, according to the Ministry of Health.

Since October 7, at least 23,210 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli bombardment, and 59,167 were injured. Thousands remain missing under the rubble, the ministry added on Tuesday.

King Abdullah of Jordan warned that Israel has created a generation of orphans in the Gaza Strip, following a meeting with U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken on Sunday, who is visiting Jordan, Israel, and other Arab states this week; his fourth visit to the region since October.

“More children have died in Gaza than in all other conflicts around the world this past year. Of those who have survived, many have lost one or both parents, an entire generation of orphans,” King Abdullah said on Monday during a speech at the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Rwanda, a country which went through a heinous genocide in the 1990s.

“How can indiscriminate aggression and shelling bring peace? How can they guarantee security, when they are build on hatred?” he added.

On Tuesday, the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Ministry of Education reported that since October 7, Israeli forces have killed 4,257 students in Gaza and 39 in the occupied West Bank, while injuring 8,059.

The majority of schools in Gaza, whether governmental or run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), have been damaged, vandalized, or destroyed by Israeli forces.

On Monday, protesters interrupted U.S. President Joe Biden during a speech at the historic Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, calling him to push for a ceasefire in Gaza.

“If you really cared about the lives lost here, then you should honor the lives and call for a ceasefire in Palestine,” a pro-Palestine protester heckled Biden during his speech, before protesters shouted in unison: “Ceasefire now.”

Israeli forces target vicinity of Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza and MSF shelter

On Tuesday morning, Israeli forces heavily bombed the central Gaza Strip, including the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Hospital, which received 57 bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli raids.

Wafa news reported that in the past 24 hours, Israeli forces bombed Khan Younis, Gaza City, Rafah, Al-Zawaida, and Al-Nuseirat refugee camp.

In Khan Younis’s Qizan Al-Najjar area, Israeli forces killed a number of Palestinians and prevented ambulances from reaching the area, while it bombed the vicinity of Nasser Medical Hospital and launched a fire belt in Al-Zawaida town, causing immense damage to buildings.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said that an Israeli artillery shell hit their shelter’s walls in Khan Younis, which housed MSF employees and their families, on Monday afternoon.

“Four people were injured, including the 5-year-old daughter of an MSF staff who is in critical condition. The staff and their families have moved to another location,” MSF said on X.

The international group added that staff are “trying to understand what happened… MSF did not receive evacuation orders. We condemn this latest attack which shows yet again that no one and nowhere is safe in Gaza.”

Wafa correspondent said that Israeli forces bombed a house in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, while a house and a vehicle were directly bombed in Al-Nuseirat refugee camp.

B’Tselem: Israel’s policy is to deny Palestinians food

The Israeli rights group, B’Tselem, reiterated in a report what UN officials were warning of, that 2.2 million Palestinians are of risk of famine and malnutrition.

B’Tselem said that Israel’s policy is to deny Palestinians food, leaving them to rely on outside aid.

“Most cultivated fields have been destroyed [by Israel], and accessing open areas during the war is dangerous in any case,” B’Tselem said.

“Factories and warehouses have been bombed or shut down due to lack of supplies, fuel and electricity; stockpiles in private homes and stores have long since run out,” it added.

In addition, Israeli police removed a number of Israeli captives’ families near Karem Abu Salem crossing, who were attempting to block trucks from entering the Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian aid on Monday morning.

“We will not allow any more aid enter through the crossing until we get all of our sick and wounded hostages back!” one of them said.

Haniyeh: Muslim states should supply weapons to fighters

On Tuesday, Hamas showed they still have the capability to fire rocket barrages on Tel Aviv. In addition, the Al-Mujahideen Brigades published a video of attacking an Israeli force barricaded inside a building in Gaza, while Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades released a video message in English and Hebrew of one of the Israeli captives in Gaza.

Osama Hamdan, the spokesperson of Hamas, said on Monday that Israeli forces retreated from some areas in north Gaza and are stationed in the western parts of Beit Lahia, north of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli forces announced that nine soldiers were killed between Sunday and Monday in battles with Palestinian fighters, raising the death toll to 519 soldiers since October 7.

The Israeli military spokesperson also said that forces found a weapons production site in Gaza used to manufacture long-range missiles which could hit northern Israel and is connected to a network of tunnels.

On Tuesday, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh said during a speech in Doha that Muslim states should supply weapons to Palestinian fighters in Gaza.

“We see countries of the world pouring weapons into the occupation [Israel]… The time has come [for Muslim states] to support the resistance with weapons, because this is… not the battle of the Palestinian people alone,” Haniyeh said.

Israeli forces kill three Palestinian resistance fighters in Tulkarem

Israeli military raids of Palestinian towns in the occupied West Bank had killed three Palestinians and arrested dozens in the past 24 hours.

In Tulkarem, Israeli forces killed three Palestinian resistance fighters on Monday night, and an Israeli jeep was recorded by security camera driving over the dead body of one of the Palestinians.

The PA’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the act was a “horrific documented brutality.”

“The Ministry views this heinous crime as a translation of the racist incitement practiced by the pillars of the Israeli right and the extreme right, who treat all Palestinians as suspects who must be killed,” the ministry said.

Wafa news reported that Israeli forces killed Youssef Ali Al-Khouli, 22, Ahed Salman Musa, 23, and Tariq Amjad Shaheen, 24, in Tulkarem. 

Israeli forces left carnage in the city and Tulkarem camp, destroying roads, shops, and burning vehicles. Wafa said that an Israeli special force stormed the Aktaba neighborhood on Monday night and fired at a vehicle on Al-Qaisi Mosque street before shooting and killing the three Palestinians nearby.

Israeli forces arrested Mahmoud Mutie Salit, after being injured, and Iyad Omar Amara, 38, from Tulkarem. It also arrested a number of Palestinians from the towns of Jenin and Qalqilya.

In occupied Jerusalem, Israeli authorities blew up two family homes of Murad, 38, and Ibrahim al-Nimr, 30, in Sur Baher town.

The Nimr brothers carried a shooting attack in Jerusalem in November killing three Israelis and injuring 12 others, before they were killed by Israeli forces.

Murad had spent ten years in Israeli jail, while his brother Ibrahim spent eight years. In December, Israeli forces stormed their homes in Sur Baher and welded the door and windows to prevent their families from using the properties.